Congo: Government imposes ban as opposition protests election result

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday prohibited an opposition demonstration scheduled for this Wednesday in response to the tumultuous national election that took place last week, with President Felix Tshisekedi appearing to be leading. Due to alleged anomalies in the election, five opposition presidential contenders called for a unified demonstration in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo. However, the government outlawed the event on Tuesday, claiming it lacked legal standing and was intended to sabotage the election process while the CENI election commission was still gathering results. The demonstration organisers did not react to the restriction right away, which would heighten tensions ahead of the presidential and parliamentary votes on December 20 that will decide Tshisekedi’s eligibility for a second term. The second-largest nation in Africa, Congo is a major producer of cobalt and copper but suffers from severe poverty and instability in its eastern part. Election disagreements frequently exacerbate unrest in Congo and run the risk of further destabilising the nation. Following a campaign marred by violence, there were delays in the delivery of election kits, broken equipment, and disjointed voter registers during the actual vote. The protest organisers, who have also demanded a complete rerun of the election, have criticised the CENI’s decision to allow voting to continue at polling places that were closed on election day.Additionally, a few impartial observers claimed that the election’s credibility was jeopardised by the delay. Those worries have been discounted by the CENI. Over the weekend, it began to release results, with 80% of about 2.8 million votes placing Tshisekedi ahead of his 18 competitors. However, the commission has not revealed the percentage of the almost 44 million registered voters who actually cast ballots, nor has it provided an explanation of how the most recent figure relates to the total number of votes. Moise Katumbi, a different presidential contender, echoed the protest organisers’ concerns and demanded the resignation of the CENI chief. (With agency inputs)